RV-10 & Weather

[Geico266]

I flew 1,000 miles in the rain last week and I'm very happy to report the -10 is weather worthy. I did not find one drip in the cabin either in flight or sitting out tied down and it rained over 3". I did have a lite weight cover on and it worked perfect. No wet carpet, seats, or interior head liner. Bone dry.

I did develop a little static on the radio that went away when I hit ISO on the audio panel.

I did find an omission though and I thought I would throw it out to see if the builder missed it or if there is no weep hole called for in the rudder bottom during construction. It filled up with water sitting outside.

Is there a weep hole called for in the bottom of the rudder? I looked on the prints, but could not find it. You should add one if you don't have one.

When you are drilling it out, don't lie on the ground under the rudder. If you do have water in it you are gonna get wet.

 

[Geico266]

Even after flying for 3 hours there was 3-4 cups of water in the bottom of the rudder. Pretty amazing.

Well then, this may be a good thing for RV-s to do. A little weep hole in the bottom of the rudder.

 

[azcloudflyer]

Did any water come in the top of the vertical stabilizer? I'm just finishing the tail kit and I noticed that the top rib of the VS would allow water inside which would have to drain out the bottom of the tail cone. I was wondering if anyone seals this up and drills drain holes in the VS rear spar at the very top for water to drain out the back.

 

[bcondrey]

Larry,

Plans don't specifically call for a weep/drain hole. With that said, the first year there were customer RV-10s at OSH there was one with the rudder bottom full of water... Mine has a small hole at the forward end.

Bob

 

[flion]

That's one of the great things about that inspection checklist that was posted here recently. It's not on the plans and I keep forgetting to get around to it. I seem to recall somewhere that 3/16" is a good size to prevent clogging but not be too large. Is that correct?

 

[w1curtis]

Larry,

Plans don't specifically call for a weep/drain hole. With that said, the first year there were customer RV-10s at OSH there was one with the rudder bottom full of water... Mine has a small hole at the forward end.

Bob

Ditto! We must have seen the same -10

 

[Geico266]

That's one of the great things about that inspection checklist that was posted here recently. It's not on the plans and I keep forgetting to get around to it. I seem to recall somewhere that 3/16" is a good size to prevent clogging but not be too large. Is that correct?

3/16" seems big to me, but then again it could clogg up. I'm gonna start with a 1/16th and work my way up.

I was totally amazed at the weather worthiness of the -10. I was flying through green & yellow XM weather stuff, radar controllers called it light to moderate rain. Makes flying in the rain a total non-event, and gives me the confidence to fly in rain.

 

[smenkhare]

interesting post. I just always assumed it would be waterproof.